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Infogrames brings Test Drive Off Road - ­ Wide Open - to the XBOX

Take your road rage off-road with Infogrames, Inc.’s newest installment in the Test Drive Off-Road™ series. Test Drive Off-Road -- Wide Open™ shipped to stores this week to coincide with the launch of the Xbox™ video game system from Microsoft. Developed by the masterminds at Angel Studios, the game features advanced “go anywhere” environments, more than 50 licensed off-road vehicles including the all new Chevy® Avalanche, and 30 suspension-shattering tracks in three untamed locations as well as an Xbox-exclusive Stadium location and a hidden lunar fantasy location.

"We’ve pumped Test Drive Off Road ­ Wide Open full of over-the-top horsepower and action to give gamers a frenetic, gear grinding race across miles of wide open terrain,” said Laddie Ervin, director of marketing at Infogrames Inc.’s Los Angeles Label. “Test Drive Off Road ­ Wide Open gives gamers unbelievable Xbox-enhanced visual effects, towering jumps, heart-wrenching speeds and loads of unstoppable, upgradable trucks. With the freedom to tear through the roughest real-world locations in ‘go anywhere’ style against the most lifelike Artificial Intelligence (AI) around, gamers are in for an unmatched racing experience.”

Chosen for their diverse terrain and gorgeous environments, Moab, Utah, Yosemite, California and the Big Island of Hawaii are the featured locations for Test Drive Off Road ­Wide Open’s brutal, pedal-to-the-metal off road competition. Each of these locales contains 9 tracks, featuring blitz, circuit and scramble races that widely vary in both size and style.

New to the Xbox version of the game is a Stadium location encompassing nine different tracks where players race indoors and wrestle their trucks in a King of the Hill battle to prove once and for all whose rig is the biggest and baddest. In all the locations, players make their own rules, determining which path and truck will complete the course the fastest.

Test Drive Off Road ­ Wide Open contains a variety of heavy-hitting, upgradable licensed off road vehicles, each with their own unique handling and power/speed capabilities. The list of vehicles features an Xbox-exclusive truck, the all new Chevy® Avalanche. In addition, the game contains powerful rigs like the AM General Humvee®, AM General Hummer® Wagon, AM General Hummer® Rag Top, Rod Hall Hummer®, Jeep® Wrangler, Jeep® CJ5, Ford® F-150™, Ford® Bronco™, Dodge® RAM 2500, Dodge® Durango, Dodge® T Rex, Shelby® S.P. 360™, Chevrolet® Blazer and the Chevrolet® Silverado. Each vehicle can be customized with off-road performance upgrades. As players win races, they can purchase one of four levels of trucks, adding features like burlier tires and wheels, light bars, brush guards, lift kits and more to produce both visual and performance improvements on the vehicle.

Metallica’s hit song “Fuel,” from their top-ten ReLoad album, headlines Test Drive Off Road ­ Wide Open’s soundtrack along with other well known tracks by bands like Fear Factory, 303 Infinity, Digital Assassins and UnLoco. The game shipped to most retail stores this week with an estimated retail value of $49.95 and an ESRB rating of E for everyone.